Given the scorching summer season witnessed by the country, bottled soft drinks emerged as one of the fastest growing categories and has hit new levels of household penetration.
As several parts of the country coped with heatwave, the household penetration levels during the March-May period crossed the 40 per cent mark at the national level, as per data released by Kantar.
The household penetration in fact for this segment has been rising steadily in post-pandemic times. “Close to 54 per cent of the Indian households purchased the category for in-home consumption in the last 12 month period ended May 2024.
The summer (March-May 2024) penetration has for the first time crossed the 40 per cent mark at the national level,” the market research and insights firm stated.
During this summer season several parts of the country saw temperatures rising to record highs. This meant demand for soft drinks was higher even in rural regions.
“Given the intense summers, even rural households are purchasing the category for in-home consumption. Therefore, compared to last year, the gap in penetration between Urban and Rural also diminished,” Kantar noted.
The carbonated beverage segment had seen a dip in consumption during early phase of the pandemic outbreak. However, 2024 is the “third-straight year of growth” for the category. It will be key to note how the category performs during non-seasonal period in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, the average households has also expanded its consumption of bottled soft drinks by 250 ml in the last two years, Kantar noted.
In a statement released last month, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola India had said that the Indian beverage maket has significantly gained momentum during the summer season and that the company’s brands have been witnessing consistent growth in sales.
“With a surge in both, in-home and out-of-home consumption, our endeavour is to continue scaling the distribution through traditional as well as newer emerging channels,” the beverage major had said.